Lioness' Alternate Ending
by MinervaEvenstar
Summary: My ending to the Lioness Quartet in which Alanna and Jonathan wind up together. Begins at the part in book 4 when Alanna is battling Roger.


**Disclaimer:** Peirce owns the Lioness Quartet; I only wrote this improved ending to it.

Lioness' Alternate Ending

_"With silver and stone I made thee; With Gift and blood I bound thee; With my name I call thee!"_

Lightening strained toward Roger, but Alanna gripped it tightly.

"It will come to me eventually," he said. "And you will follow."

"I won't follow you anywhere," she snapped, meeting his icy blue eyes defiantly.

"You could have. When you were a squire I offered you friendship, remember? If you had accepted we wouldn't all be about to die."

"So? You still would have killed Jon so you could get the throne." The scars on Alanna's hands broke and bled, but she refused to let go of Lightening.

Roger nodded. "True, but everyone else would have lived as long as they didn't question my authority. Now everyone will die. Now _you_ will die."

"I don't care! I wouldn't want to live without Jon anyway!" she shouted partly in anger at Roger and partly from the agony in her hands.

"You love him so much, Lioness? Then why did you refuse his marriage proposal?" Smirking, he added, "You cannot hold onto the sword much longer."

Ignoring the truth in his last comment the knight replied, "I love him, yet I know I'd make an awful queen." She hated the sadness in her voice.

"Actually, one of the few things my cousin and I agreed on was that you would make a good one, though that doesn't matter anymore." He laughed insanely.

The sound cut into Alanna like a dagger. _What can I do? He expects me to fight, so...stop fighting._

She released Lightening and before the Duke realised what had happened it was buried in his chest. Remarkably, he laughed again. He guffawed until his dying lungs ran out of air and flames devoured his body.

Buri found Alanna and brought her back up to the surface. Once she was reassured that everyone was all right she approached the alter to pay her respects to the only one of her friends that had not made it through the day's events alive: Liam Ironarm. She wished she could cry, however, her tears had already been used up for her twin's death.

Jonathan dragged himself to lean on the alter beside her. "I saw you'd just gotten to Roger when he took arrows that were meant for me. I'm sorry, and I know it isn't much consolation, but they'll sing songs about him."

At first Alanna didn't hear him as she stared blankly at Liam, yet when his words eventually sank in she felt cold. "You saw me with Roger? Could you hear us too?"

The king hesitated, and then nodded.

Alanna was miserable. Not only had the Black God taken Thom, Faithful, and Liam, but also Jonatha knew that she still loved him after she had worked so hard to convince him otherwise. With a sigh, she asked, "I suppose you want an explanation?"

"Later," he answered. Holding her bloodied hands he allowed reddish-purple fire to flow into her fingers. "We both need rest now."

A week passed before she was summoned to the king's chambers.

"I didn't mean to take so long to talk to you, but Baird and the healers had to be satisfied that I wouldn't suffer any permanent damage," said Jonathan by a way of apologising.

"Your brain was already damaged," replied Alanna dryly.

He chuckled. "I see you're feeling better."

"Better," she agreed. "But not much better. We'll see if I can ever get that far."

Gently, he hugged her and assured, "You will, although, like me with my parents' deaths it may take a while."

She hugged him back tightly. "It isn't fair," she whispered. "I mean, maybe dear Thom had to die for bringing back the dead, but Liam and Faithful..." Her voice trailed off and she fought back tears.

"They were all special. Thom was the greatest sorcerer in centuries, Faithful's name certainly suited him, and Liam actually got away with calling the Lioness 'kitten."

How had he found out about that? She looked up at him, surprised, and saw amusement twinkling in his breathtaking sapphire eyes. Her urge to weep was replaced with an urge to playfully hit him for teasing her.

"Should I tell Gary and Raoul your nickname?" he joked.

The lady knight did not want to think about how they would tease her if Jonathan was this bad. "You are a prig sometimes."

"Am I?" His arms tightened seductively around her. "Then why do you love me? No, I suppose I should ask why you do not want me to know that you love me?"

"Like I told Roger, I would be a terrible queen. We both know I'm not a court lady." She paused before muttering, "You should marry Thayet; she would be good for the kingdom."

"Thayet is beautiful and brave, but so are you, and you grew up in Tortall and adore it as much as I do. Who better to rule a kingdom than one who loves it? You wouldn't have to do it alone, either. Your friends would help you and so would I. We defeated the Ysandir in Black City and recently I stopped the earthquakes until you destroyed the creator of them. There is nothing our love can't do, Alanna. If you care about me like you say you do believe me when I tell you that."

Alanna's knees weakened and if it were not for the king's strong arms holding her she would have fallen to the floor. Already she knew what her answer was, however, she still wanted to give him a hard time. "What about me acting courtly?"

"You're a hero, so as long as you do what's best for Tortall you needn't worry about it." When she said naught he asked a bit nervously, "So what do you say?"

She thought carefully about how to word her response. "Well, since I didn't have to say that lame speech when I was supposed to give you the Dominion Jewel and call it an 'awesome artifact' I'll marry you."

He laughed with joy and kissed her passionately. Both of them were gasping for air when they finally broke apart.

Once Jonathan got his breath back he commented in mock disappointment, "Now I need to find a new Champion."

"I don't know who you should choose. You said you liked Gary and Raoul where they were, I'd hate to have it be Coram or Miles since they're getting married to Rispah and Elani, George is turning respectable-" She paused to grin wryly at the thought and was about to continue when Jonathan interrupted, worried, "I know how George feels about you. Do you think he will be okay with our marriage?"

"He remained a friend to both of us when we first became lovers. This won't be any different," was her firm reply.

"Well, all right. I know from experience it's bad to argue with the Lioness."

Alanna smiled. "Then you won't argue when I say we should finish this conversation in your bedroom."

"Of course not." He smiled in return, picked her up, and carried her there.

Later, he would announce their engagement to the kingdom, for they presently had other business to attend to.


End file.
